Peter f



(No Model.)

P. F. PIA. CONSTRUCTION OF BASKETS, 8w.

Patented May 9, 1893.

y I :Lllllll mu am W INVENTOH f6? BY ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER F. PIA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CONSTRUCTION OF BASKETS, 800.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 497,205, dated May 9, 1893.

Application filed December 16 1892. fierial No. 455,396. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER F. PIA, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented eertain new and useful Improvements in the Construction of Baskets, &c., of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relatesto improvements in the construction of that class of baskets and other receptacles which are made of metal, and which have their meeting edges fastened together by solder or other means. The basket, or similar thing of this kind, is usually made by stamping a blank from pewter or other malleable metal, and shaping it so that it will have projecting wings with inclined edges, then bending up the wings until the edges meet, and finally soldering the meeting edges together. When baskets or other receptacles are constructed in this way, the edges are likely to break apart or the soldering iron may melt a portion of the basket and thus make it useless, and if the work is sucoessfully done, the process is even then slow and expensive.

The object of my invention is to produce a blank of the character described, having fastoning devices struck up from the meeting edges, which devices are adapted to interlock and hold the wings of the basket or other receptacle together, and which enable the said meeting edges to be very rapidly and securely fastened, without injury to any part of the basket, so that a better and cheaper article is produced than where the old process is employed.

To these ends my invention consists in a basket, or similar receptacle, the construction of which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the open blank constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the basket body with the wings bent up and united; and Fig. 3 is a broken detail perspective view of one of the fastening devices.

The blank is provided with a central rectangular portion 10 which forms the bottom of the basket, and extending outward from the four sides of this rectangular portion are the side wings 11 and the end wings 12, the whole blank being formed of malleable metal, such as pewter, and it is also made of open work so as to form a handsome basket capable of hold ing candy or other material, and permitting the material to show through the sides of the basket. These several wings 11 and 12 have inclined edges 13 which, when the wings are folded upward and inward, are adapted to meet so as to form a basket-like body, as shown in Fig. 1, and as the wings are wider at their outer ends than at their inner ends, the body will also be wider at the top than at the bottom. These inclined edges on the portion of the wings, preferably on the wings 11, are, near their outer edges, thickened, as shown at 14: and the thickened portions are provided with dovetailed grooves 15, the grooves dividing the thickened portions into oppositely arranged logs. The other wings 12 have, near their free ends and on the inclined edges, projecting lugs 16, which when the wings are bent inward and upward in a way to cause the edges 13 to meet, register with and enter the grooves 15. The lugs 16 and the thickened portion 14, opposite the grooves 15, are then squeezed firmly in a suitable press, and this heads the lugs 16, and the lugs form on opposite sides of the grooves 15 so that the said interlocking lugs are riveted together and the basket wings all firmly united.

The receptacle, if it is to be used for a basket, is provided on opposite sides with perforated lugs 17 to which a suitable bail may be at tached. It will be understood, however, that receptacles, other than baskets, may be formed in the same way without departing from the principle of my invention. 1

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A basket or similar article formed with a series of side flaps, the meeting edges of which are provided with a dove-tail groove and proj ection respectively; the ends of the said projections or lugs being flush with the outer faces of the flaps and secured in the grooves by compressing the walls of the latter thereupon, substantially as set forth.

PETER FpPIA.

Witnesses:

CHAS. I-I. COLLINS, WILLIAM. G. DAVIDSON. 

